Up until yesterday, I had not done any souvenir shopping. I was hoping for fabrics and carvings – more native type crafts. While at Mfuwe Lodge, the gift shop was open, and I had about 25 minutes to choose from too many wonderful things! Essentially, the gift shop is an extension of the home base of Tribal Textiles, a fabulous business creating fabric designs and products based in Mfuwe. I bought for family members, but only a set of placemats for our home.
As we left the camp for the airport, we realized that the monkey antics had hurried us along: we were 20 minutes early for our rendezvous as we drove past the Tribal Textiles home base. Steve obligingly circled back, waggling his finger in warning that I only had 20 minutes. I’m a power shopper – I can do it.
Ha! Room after room of delightfully painted fabrics, grouped by themes and colors: I wanted to buy it all and redo the entire house! Mindful of my time limit, I quickly picked out items for our house sitter and more family members. I lingered over a lovely tablecloth with a menagerie of African wildlife surrounding the borders. Steve liked the pillow covers and the banners. He reminded me that most of our bedroom walls were bare. Perfect! We picked out 3 long banners to hang above the bed, two pillow covers for the living room couch, and then back for the tablecloth – who knew when we would be back in Zambia?
Check out, like most activities in Zambia, is efficient, but not quick. Now we are 30 minutes late to meet Rob and Lindsay, who had already crossed into Zambia from Malawi to meet us, and will need to cross back before nightfall. Everyone is gracious about our late arrival, and our Bushcamp Company driver, also named Steve, drives us back to Mfuwe Lodge. (I think he stepped on the accelerator a little bit as we passed Tribal Textiles again.)
Can't Stay Home 